Theres a Treasure other than Riches
by GoldMary3
Summary: Aphrodite is writing a Thief Lord FanFiction. But in the progress, she turns into the girl in her story, and meets the Thief Lord. She thinks she has found the perfect match. And so does he. But the Thief Lord is just a fictional character. Right?
1. Chapter 1

**GoldMary3**: Sigh. I do not own The Thief Lord characters, Cornelia Funke owns them. I only own Aphrodite because I made her up. But I do not own her name because it is a Greek Goddess name. Yada yada yada. Blah blah blah.

**There's a Treasure other than Riches**

"I'm home!" called Aphrodite from the doorway. The door itself stood at least three times the size of the pale 14-year-old standing in front of it. Not to mention the door_way_.

Both the door and the doorway were made of solid oak and had peculiar designs and carvings here and there. The same with the walls of the living room, the dining room, and the first hallway.

"Honey!" said her mother, Athena, as she embraced the young girl with her strong arms. "How was your day at school?"

"Fine. As always." grumbled Aphrodite as she pushed away from her mothers friendly hug. She expertly avoided another one and made her way to the staircase.

"Where are you going?" asked her mother, half stunned that her daughter would pull away from her like that.

Aphrodite spun around and looked her mother in the eye. "Upstairs. I'm working on something." There was a hint of annoyance in her usually calm voice, and Athena guessed that it was because of her and her questions, keeping Aphrodite from going up.

"Well, at least take that coat off." she said, looking up and down the long, light brown over coat.

Aphrodite blinked, obviously she had been spaced out and didn't have a clue about what her own mother was saying.

"Oh. Oh. Right." she finally said. "Sorry, I don't have the time." With that, she ran up the stairs, her shoes pat-patting behind her. After a couple of seconds, she heard Aphrodite's bedroom door shut.

Moments later, her father came in to find his wife, standing on the marble floor of the first hallway, still shocked-her-own-little-baby-girl-would-act-this-way. He followed her gaze up to his young daughters bedroom door.

"We never should have let her sign up for FanFiction, huh?" he asked.

"No." Athena replied. "We never should have."

Aphrodite's Room

Aphrodite hummed to herself as she started writing yet another Thief Lord story for FanFiction on Word. This has ought to be my best story yet, She thought to herself.

_A girl walked down an alleyway. Her name was Emerald, though her name did not match the way she looked. She had chocolate brown hair that only went down to a little past her shoulders. The color of her eyes matched her hair._

Perfect. She liked to put a little of herself into her own characters. Aphrodite did have chocolate colored hair and eyes. But her hair went down to her elbows. "Oh well." she murmured. "She cant be just like me."

_Some considered Emerald pretty, others did not. She personally considered herself in the middle._

Good, good, good.

_A slight breeze blew, making Emerald smile. The full moon shone in the canal, making her smile widen. Emerald sat up against a wall, facing the canal. Emerald suddenly felt extremely tired. She yawned and her eyes involuntarily closed. "Only a slight nap wont hurt" she whispered, before dozing off._

_Emerald woke with a start. Voices? At this time of night? Surely not. But sure enough, there were voices. Male voices._

_"I told you! There was a girl!" shouted a harsh voice. They couldn't be too far away. She could hear them clearly. "Over there! She was sleeping!"_

_Oh god. A girl? She was sleeping? That could only mean one thing, at least one of them had found her._

_"Where was she!?" another demanded. This one sounded like he was used to giving orders and them not being disobeyed. "Speak!" Emerald heard the sound of a slap._

_"I told you! Over there!"_

_"Shit." Emerald swore. She got up as quietly as she could and started running._

_Emeralds heart was beating faster than it ever had before. Any faster and it'll pop right out of my body, she thought. Though which it was from she didn't know. The people, or running._

_She could still hear the shouts of the men as she jumped over a fallen trash can._

_Another left turn and Ill be gone! Thank God! Emerald sped up, close to making her escape._

_Suddenly, a figure dressed in black ran right out in front of her and unfortunately, Emerald didn't have time to stop and both fell to the ground._

_The last thing she remembered seeing was a boy lying next to her, and a black mask with a nose like a bird of prey_.

Aphrodite read her story over again and nearly squealed with glee. This** was** the best story that she had ever written.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a sudden dizziness came over her and she felt faint.

"Too much writing?" she said to herself with a laugh. "I should get a little bit of sleep."

Aphrodite made her way to the soft bed, falling asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow.

The computer hummed. She had left it on.

**GoldMary3:** Good? Did ya like it? I hope so! Please review!!!!! Flames, suggestions, advice, stars, ideas, all excepted!


	2. Chapter 2

**GoldMary3: Yadaya. Blahblah. I don't own anything. You get my point.**

Aphrodite woke with a groan. This was definitely not her best nap. Her head hurt, her body ached. And to make matters worse, she was extremely cold.

She rolled over on her side, only to discover that she was laying on concrete, next to a canal. Startled, she shot up.

"What the heck is going on here?" she asked to no one in particular.

She then stood up, only to be surprised again.

"This is a dream. A really, really, stupid dream." Aphrodite said while looking at her hair, which had shortened to a little past her shoulders. "A creepy dream too, I might add.

She started walking down the alleyway. There was a slight breeze, which made Aphrodite smile. There was also a full moon, which was making the canal next to her glitter like a thousand candles, making her smile widen. She sat down against the wall of the building behind her, watching the canals mystical water.

Aphrodite suddenly felt very tired again. She yawned and her eyelids involuntarily closed. A slight nap wont hurt, she thought before falling into a deep sleep.

Aphrodite woke up for the second time that night, once again startled. Voices? At this time of night? Don't be silly. But sure enough, voices floated to her ears. Male voices.

"I told you! There was a girl!" shouted a harsh voice. They couldn't be more than a couple alleys away. She could hear them clearly. "Over there! She was sleeping!"

Oh god. A girl? She was sleeping? That could only mean one thing. At least one of them had found her. Then Aphrodite realized, the men were saying the same things as the people in her story! And to make things weirder, she was thinking almost the same thoughts as Emerald. "What happened?" she asked herself as she quietly got up. If she was in her story, which Aphrodite highly doubted, she had to do exactly as she wrote and was going to write.

"Where was she?!" another demanded. This man sounded like he was used to giving orders, and them not being disobeyed. "Speak!" Aphrodite heard the sound of a slap.

"Shit." Aphrodite swore before starting to run. She had never sworn out loud in her life. But if she didn't the plot might be changed and she might never get back if she **was** in her story.

Aphrodite's heart was beating faster than it had ever beat before. Any faster and it'll pop right out of my body, She thought. Though from which she didn't know. The man, or running. But if the story followed her thoughts...

Aphrodite could still hear the men arguing as she jumped over a fallen trash can.

Another turn and Ill be gone! Thank God! She sped up, close to getting away.

Aphrodite then braced herself for the impact with the boy.

And sure enough, a figure dressed in black ran out in front of her and unfortunately, Aphrodite didn't have time to stop and they both fell to the ground.

The last thing Aphrodite remembered seeing was the boy lying next to her and the mask with a nose like a bird of prey.

Then everything went black.

Aphrodite's eyelids fluttered open for the third time that night. Where was she?

"Good. You're finally awake."

The boy talking made the memories come back to her. She sat up and looked at him.

The boy, whom she immediately recognized as Scipio, had almost black hair that was tied back into a short ponytail and black eyes. He smiled.

"How long have I been out?" she asked the Thief Lord.

"I woke up about five minutes ago. You were still asleep then. I don't know how long we were knocked out before that though, Cara."

Cara... she recognized the word. It meant "my dear" or "sweetheart" or something like that.

"So Cara..." Scip continued. "What's your real name?"

Aphrodite sighed. He was saying the exact thing that she was going to write before she went to sleep. That meant that she was going to have to too.

"Aphrodite. Whats yours?"

Scipio stopped smiling for a moment. "Aphrodite." he repeated. "Isn't that the name of a..."

"A Greek Goddess. I know. Aphrodite was the Goddess of love, desire, and beauty."

Scipio smirked. "Well your parents named you right, Cara. Love, Desire, and Beauty matches you just fine. By the way, where are your parents? Or are you an orphan?"

Aphrodite frowned. "Are you flirting with me?" She demanded.

The other boy just shrugged. "Possibly. Now answer my question. Where are your parents?"

"How about you answer mine first?"

"Which one?"

Aphrodite was now more than a little annoyed. He was saying exactly what she would have wrote, and she thought that she was prepared for it. But it turned out she wasn't fully prepared.

"The one about your name!" she snapped even though she already knew his name.

"Ah, yes. That one. Scipio. Or Thief Lord if you like. Now, if you're pleased, will you be so kind, Cara, as to answer my question?"

She considered telling him the truth, but Aphrodite decided against it. "Yes." she finally replied, trying her hardest to keep her own voice calm. "Yes, I'm an orphan."

"Well then." Scipio said. "Do you need a place to stay?"

Aphrodite scoffed. "And what would the Thief Lord be able to do for me?"

"A lot." he replied. "I can give you a roof to sleep under, food to eat, and possibly friends."

She knew what he was talking about, the Stella. But did she really want to do this?

"Sure." Aphrodite said with a shrug. "Why not? Where is it?"

Scipio smiled. "Follow me." he stood up, then offered her a hand.

Aphrodite ignored it and got up. "Well," she said. "Are we going or not?"

"Of course we are." Scip started to head twoard the direction that Aphrodite came from. Suddenly, he turned around and looked Aphrodite in the eye. "You wouldn't mind not telling the others about the flirting, would you?" he asked.

"And embarrass myself to death? Of course I won't!"

"Thanks." he simply said. "Thanks."

**GoldMary3: **So...this is the second chapter for There's a Treasure other than Riches. Please review! And those of you who want to, guess what the treasure other than riches is, right it in with your review!


	3. Chapter 3

**GoldMary3: I DON'T OWN ANY THING!!! Is that good enough for you!? (Sob)**

"So..." started Aphrodite as she and Scip walked down an alley.

"What the hell was I doing running out in front of you?" Scipio said with a grin.

"Yeah."

"Well what were you doing, Cara? Running that fast down one of Venice's alleys? Its dangerous you know."

Aphrodite decided not to tell him and instead said, "_Cara _has a name and its Aphrodite so please stop calling me Cara."

"Whatever you say, Cara."

Aphrodite just got damn sick of him acting like that so she stepped in front of him, causing him to halt.

"What?" he demanded.

"Listen." she hissed. "You stop calling me that or I'll tell who ever's at that place your taking me that you were flirting with me."

"Blackmailing? Please." he pushed her away and stepped in front. Then, having seconds thoughts, turned around and said, "Fine. I'll stop if you don't tell them."

She pulled his ponytail lightly. "That's a good boy."

Scip laughed. "Now look who's flirting."

"I wasn't flirting." Aphrodite said quietly. She could feel her face becoming red. "It bothers you, doesn't it? People pulling your ponytail?"

Scipio looked at her suspiciously. "How did you know?"

"It bothers most people." Aphrodite said lamely. "So why not you?"

Sometimes it was good to have a big imagination. Lies came faster. Though she wasn't sure how good lieing was.

But what else could she say? That she had read it in a book called The Thief Lord that told almost everything about him and everyone else? No way. No sane person would believe that.

Scipio just shrugged. "Whatever you say, Ca..Aphrodite."

Aphrodite smirked. "You better not get into the habit of calling me Cara or else even if I don't tell them, they will start to get suspicious."

The Thief Lord laughed. "Don't worry. They won't hear me."

For a while neither of them said anything. Aphrodite broke the silence.

"So what were you doing, outside in the middle of the night?" she asked.

"I'm the Thief Lord, remember? Anyway, enough questions. Here we are.

Scipio stopped in front of a door that said 'NO ENTRY'. A rope hung from the top, which Scip pulled two times, then waited a few seconds before pulling it again. Aphrodite heard a bell ringing inside.

"Questions?" Aphrodite scoffed. "You're the one who asked the last que..."

Scip put a hand over her mouth. "Quiet." he hissed. He then took his hand off of her mouth.

She was about to say something back to him when the door was opened by a boy that looked no older than eight or nine.

He had spiked hair and rotten teeth.

Riccio, Aphrodite thought.

"Hey Scip!" Riccio said. "You know you're late again!"

"Riccio," Scip said with a nod. "Meet Aphrodite. Aphrodite meet Riccio."

Riccio grabbed Aphrodite's hand. "Hi." he said with a wide grin. "And welcome to the Stella. We are sponsored by the Thief Lord and are like one big happy family for orphans and runaways. May I get you a mattress?"

Aphrodite laughed. This was going to be interesting. But Scipio just sighed.

"Skip the formalities, Riccio, and let us in."

"Whatever." Riccio stepped to the side and before closing the door, peaked outside to make sure no one was watching. When he knew the coast was clear, Riccio shut the door, locked it, then ran up beside Aphrodite.

"You know," he whispered. "The Thief Lord brings in every orphan and runaway in town. I wouldn't be surprised if he brought in a lost puppy. He's already given Bo two kittens."

Aphrodite tried to hide laughter.

She could hear talking from the room up ahead and also she smelled burnt pasta.

Yes. This was going to be interesting.

Suddenly, Scipio stopped and turned around to look at Riccio. "You go ahead." he said to the younger boy. "I'm going to fill Aphrodite in on everything. Please don't tell anyone about her yet."

The boy grinned. "Sure." he said before walking towards the room like nothing had happened.

Scipio turned to Aphrodite. "OK. Listen. First rule. No one. And I mean no one may follow me outside when I leave."

Aphrodite nodded.

"Good. Second rule. when you're talking about me to anyone besides everyone who's here, use the name Thief Lord."

"Yes sir."

"Last but most important, you cannot tell anyone, anyone, about the Stella. Got it?"

Aphrodite nodded again.

"And one more thing," Scip put a hand on her shoulder. Even without high-heel boot he would have been a little taller than her. "You also can't tell anyone about the flirting. We keep that to ourselves, remember?"

"Of course I do."

Scip nodded. "Good. Now follow me. Time to meet the others." He walked toward the other room, Aphrodite following close behind.

As soon as they entered the room, everyone stopped what they were doing and all eyes focused on her.

"Everyone," Scipio said. "meet Aphrodite. Aphrodite, meet Hornet, Mosca, Bo, Prosper, and you've all ready met Riccio."

Hellos and His came from everyone. She tried to look as if she knew nothing about them.

"Do we have a spare mattress?" The Thief Lord asked.

"Well, Bo refuses to sleep on his own so she can have his." Hornet said.  
"Thank-you." Aphrodite said, trying her hardest to sound as if she were still a little uncomfortable around them.

"What about dinner?" Mosca asked. "I only made dinner for the six of us."

"Its...its fine." Aphrodite said. "I'm not that hungry anyway.

"Your loss." Mosca said.

Bo, who was watching her as if he were studying something in a museum came up to her and said, "What's your name again?"

Aphrodite smiled. "Aphrodite." She said, ruffling his hair.

"Aph...Ap...what?"

Aphrodite laughed. "Its hard to pronounce, isn't it? You'll get it right some day."

Bo nodded. "Can I play with her instead of eating dinner? I'm not very hungry either."

Prosper shook his head. "No Bo. You eat your dinner first then you can play with Aphrodite." He frowned. "Aphrodite. Isn't that the name..."

"Of a Greek Goddess. She knows. I pointed that out to her when we met." Scipio said while taking a seat at the head of the table. "You can explore if you want."

"Thank-you." Aphrodite said. She was going to tell him that what he said sounded more like and order than a suggestion but forgot all about it when she found Hornet's books.

15 Minutes Later

"Aphrodite." said Hornet. She had found her with her nose buried in one of her favorite books, Wringer."Aphrodite." she called again, this time tapping her on the back. "Thief Lord's leaving and he wants to say good-bye."

Aphrodite looked up. For a moment she forgot about everything. "Thief Lord?" she asked.

"Yes Thief Lord. Now come on. He's not going to wait forever."

"Oh right." Aphrodite said. She closed the book and put ion on top of the pile she found it on. "Let's go." she said standing up.

Hornet smiled and called down, "She's coming!" Hornet then walked down to the first floor, Aphrodite walking next to her.

"He all ready went to the door." said Prosper when they got down.

"Didn't you at least walk him to the door?" asked Aphrodite.

"No. We never do that any more." Riccio grumbled.

Oh yeah. She had forgotten about the little, "Riccio" incident.

Aphrodite just shrugged. "Fine. I'll just go alone." She then walked down the hallway.

Aphrodite found Scip leaning against the wall, his eyes closed.

"The others seemed scared to follow you." smirked Aphrodite.

Scipio opened his eyes and looked at her. "Well you don't seem to be."

"Well I don't know what they're scared about." she said, rolling her eyes."Anyway, Hornet said that you wanted to say good-bye?"

"Uh-huh." he said. "And thanks for not telling them anything about...well...you know." he stood up straight and walked over to where the girl was standing and put both hands on her shoulders.

For a moment, Aphrodite thought that he was going to kiss her but instead he said, "Can you tell the others that I'll be back tomorrow?"

Aphrodite nodded. "Sure."

"Then I'll be back, Cara." With that he turned and headed out into the night.

"Kind of a long good-bye, don't you think?" Mosca said when she came back.

"You're point is?" Aphrodite demanded. "Anyway, The Thief Lord wanted me to tell you that he'll be back tomorrow."

"Good. He didn't bring any loot this time and our money's getting low." Hornet said. Then she yawned. "I think I'm going to turn in for the night."

"Me too."Aphrodite said.

Upstairs, Hornet got Aphrodite's mattress and put it next to hers.

They climbed in and Aphrodite immediately felt tired.

"So." Hornet whispered. "Do you like Scip?"

Aphrodite just stared at her. "Well of course I do." she whispered back. "He's my friend. You all are."

"No. No. You don't get it. I mean like, like."

"Oh." Aphrodite muttered. "That kind of like. No. I'm not sure."

"OK, then. Good night." Hornet rolled over on her side and soon, Aphrodite could hear the soft sound of her breathing.

But Aphrodite couldn't sleep. It was because she couldn't help but think about how she really felt towards the Thief Lord

**GoldMary3: So far one person has guessed right about what the treasure is! Come on! Let's have some more!**


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